World Wrestling Entertainment aired its flagship “Monday Night Raw” program from the Prudential Center in Newark on Monday, May 15, and the event's co-headlining bout between fan-favorite Seth Rollins and the ominous Bray Wyatt came to an unceremonious end when Samoa Joe violently inserted himself into the proceedings.

Samoa Joe has been a known entity to devout wrestling fans for years thanks to his top-notch work for countless promotions around the world. He joined the WWE ranks in 2015 by enlisting with its NXT brand and made his debut on the company’s "Raw" roster in February.

At the company's Sunday, June 4 "Extreme Rules" pay-per-view event, available via the WWE Network, Samoa Joe will face off against Rollins, Wyatt, Finn Balor and Roman Reigns in the first-ever Fatal 5 Way match to determine the number one contender for Brock Lesnar's Universal Championship.

We spoke with Samoa Joe Monday morning about transitioning to WWE life, who he has his sights on next, and his thoughts on what makes a perfect sports entertainment bad guy (a.k.a. heel).

Q: You’ve wrestled around the world for any number of companies. What is it about the WWE fans here in the Northeast – the New York, New Jersey, Philly area – that sets them apart from some of the other crowds you’ve worked for?

A: I think the top of that list is just the history. Obviously when you think of the Northeast, when you think of New Jersey, when you think of New York, when you think of the New England area, these are places where the WWF at the time came into fruition and WWE made its home.

Even in the wrestling industry, whether you’re in the South or out West, to say you’re going up North there’s only one place that means, and that’s WWE. So I think that there’s a rich and ingrained history of fans that have literally followed this from its inception. So coming back to the Northeast, I think it’s kind of home turf for the company in general.

Q: For wrestling fans, you have been on our radar for years at this point. Only in the last couple of years have you been working for the WWE, first in NXT and now on the main roster. For someone as skilled as you, what have been some of the biggest areas of adjustment to working in the WWE style?

A: I think synchronizing your performance and what you do in the ring with some incredibly talented people on the production side of things. There’s a dedication and an intricacy to the production style that you find in WWE, and for me it was just minor adjustments. I’ve obviously worked in television for a while, so for me it wasn’t quite a big adjustment.

But especially having the benefits of being in NXT and seeing the coaching and the experience that a lot of younger guys go through as they make their way up to the main roster, you see a lot of these nuanced things that you really will not deal with anywhere else in the world in any company, not matter what the size. There’s definitely a higher premium put on the spectacle aspect of what you see in WWE, so I think those are definitely major adjustments for anybody, no matter where you come from.

Q: On the topic of NXT for a moment, because you spent a good deal of time there: As someone who’s worked in the business for so long, how do you think the introduction of NXT as this third brand has really helped energize and revitalize the WWE in a big way with this slightly different attitude and vibe and influx of talent?

A: I think first off, logistically it’s a very, very time-consuming process bringing a new talent to the main roster and building him over weeks and months and at times even years to where he becomes something that’s recognizable to the fans, that they have a backstory and a history with.

I think NXT provides this really unique opportunity where the more hardcore fan base in the WWE universe can observe a performer start from his infancy, from his very first steps in a wrestling ring, all the way up to his debut on the main roster.

And that journey, that travel, that history that fans get to build with this performer throughout his career helps, I think, alleviate the time it takes to get a guy to be recognizable and someone the fans care about. I think that’s the biggest strength that NXT brings to the game and that’s changed things in the world of the WWE.

Samoa Joe made his debut on the main roster of World Wrestling Entertainment in February.(Photo: Courtesy of WWE)

Q: Talking about how the company has shifted and changed over the years, you’re someone with a very distinct, hard-hitting style in the ring. How would you say the rise of MMA has impacted sports entertainment and what WWE fans are expecting out of the ring work of their superstars?

A: I think it’s just kind of a natural part of anything evolving. I mean, if you’re not evolving and setting new bars and new heights and making adjustments, you’re probably dying. And I think (that’s the case) when you talk about things like evolution and embracing new concepts and embracing new things, and embracing new aspects of general culture that people recognize, MMA being one of them.

You know, 10 years ago you’d be hard-pressed to see a cross arm-breaker being recognizable to the average WWE fan. And now, with the influence of MMA, the cross arm-breaker, the rear naked choke, things that were oftentimes not viewed as being WWE style are becoming very, very terrifying predicaments for some performers. And I think for fans, too. So I think it’s all a natural part of the evolutionary process and something that I think definitely in the world of wrestling has never been shied away from.

Q: You’re in the midst of a great run opposite Seth Rollins. Who is someone you’re dying to work with in the near or distant future, whether that’s someone you’ve worked with previously in another company and haven’t worked with in WWE or someone you’ve never gotten in the ring with before?

A: In a lot of ways, I think it would be easier to provide a list of people who I’m not excited to get in the ring and go a round with. I mean, the answer is probably more people than I can list in this certain amount of time.

(At) the top of that list, obviously, (are) the John Cenas of the world, Randy Orton. Of course, me and AJ (Styles), we’ve battled for years back and forth, so anything involving him I’m more than compliant with. Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt, the list really is quite long — and hopefully I’ll get to a lot of those places in the coming years.

Q: From your standpoint, what would you say makes a perfect heel in sports entertainment?

A: I think to illicit negative emotions out of the crowd, you almost have to have a moral high ground to stand on. It’s just (that) his way of interpreting that moral high ground is slightly skewed and/or sadistic and wrong. So, I think those are some heel elements.

Something that your heel has to say in the ring is, he has to say something that resonates with the audience where the audience knows that they’re wrong for feeling a certain way but they’ll occasionally embrace that way of thinking. Those are some of the major things; I think he has to have a point. It’s just the way he goes about enforcing that point is probably not the best way.

Some more sights from this week's edition of "Monday Night Raw" at the Prudential Center in Newark: